October 1, 2015 Booklist 9 www.booklistonline.com
Thomson (Why Acting Matters, 2015),
although movies may have simply been entertainment for the first 60 years, their intent
and purpose have steadily grown, along with
their technical capability, ensuring we leave
many movies not just smiling but also thinking. Thomson backs his suppositions here
with discussions of movies from such great
filmmakers as Hitchcock, Sturges, Welles, and
more; the advent of sound; the promises—
broken or kept—of storytelling; and the
true person behind a movie’s success. All
components are thoughtfully pondered and
poetically covered. Filled with analysis and
musings, the book’s coverage is fascinating, wide ranging (from art to critics), and
immensely knowledgeable, with no aspect
of filmmaking, or contributors to same,
slighted in analysis. Readers ranging from
filmmakers to movie buffs will learn much
here. As Thomson notes, “The movies did
one potent thing: they broadcast the sight
and sound of beautiful people in situations
of exceptional and unsettling intimacy.” No
wonder we like to watch. —Eloise Kinney

My Journey.

By Donna Karan.

Oct. 2015. 384p. illus. Ballantine, $30 (9781101883495).
746.9.

After years of tireless work, courage, artistic risks, and well-timed luck, Karan put her
mark on the fashion world, designing innovative, versatile clothing for urban, working
women. In this candid and engaging memoir, Karan offers a window into her immense
energy and work ethic and her inspiration,
which seems to always come from practical
needs. The flaws in her teenage daughter’s
clothing led to the creation of her youth
brand, DKNY, and her husband’s dislike of
suits led to a men’s line, DK. Despite being
a major fashion icon, Karan is quirky and
humble (no Miranda Priestly here). Anecdotes about Karan suddenly whipping off
her own clothes to dress a celebrity, or carrying a potato around in her purse because she
liked the color, are nicely mingled with fash-ion-insider talk about CEO hiring schemes
and branding strategies as well as behind-the-scenes glimpses of runway shows. For
readers enthralled by the fashion chronicle
The Battle of Versailles (2015), Karan’s personal account of America’s success that night
will come as an additional bonus. A highly
readable memoir, perfect for fashionistas.
—Sarah Grant

Petty: The Biography.

By Warren Zanes.

Nov. 2015. 320p. illus. Holt, $30 (9780805099683).
782.42166092.

Here’s a guy in an ideal position to writea rock biography: he’s a musician himselfand a writer, and he knows the guy whoselife story he’s telling. Zanes and Tom Pettyaren’t best buds, but they know each otherwell enough for Petty to share his memorieswith Zanes (a rarity among rock bios). Thataccess is especially valuable here, as Petty isknown for his private, even reclusive, nature:other than what fans know from his music,there’s not much out there about the manhimself. (For example, does anyone otherthan King of the Hill fans know that Pettywas a regular for several seasons on that ani-mated prime-time comedy?) For Petty fanswho’ve wondered about the artist behind themusic, this book functions like a door beingthrown open on the singer’s musical and per-sonal lives. Expect eager readers from rockfans. —David Pitt

The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory.
By John Seabrook.

Oct. 2015. 320p. Norton, $26.95 (9780393241921).
781.6409.

Like many who drive with someone much
younger in control of the audio, writer
Seabrook found himself suddenly captive,
and suddenly blown away, by the new top 40.
Or top 10,000. He has heard a lot—much
of his choice, but much a revelation, to his
delight and interest; hence, this rollicking
and surprising investigation into what makes
a hit a hit. It’s not always the product of a
few musicians exploring their feelings late at
night, as one might have thought; instead,
it’s a highly sophisticated, manipulative, and
money-motivated machine that not only envelopes you but, face it, often makes you feel
good. Seabrook’s focus here is on the mechanics of the hit makers (starting in Tin Pan Alley
and carrying onward to such biggies as Berry
Gordy, Phil Spector, etc.) who focused on
production, distribution, and money making,
with the artists often coming last (if not being invented; e.g., the Backstreet Boys). The
record-album (and CD, in part) business may
have teetered and fallen, but the hits keep
coming, thanks to electronics, sampling, business savvy, and those who understand what
the public craves and provide it. Eye-opening
and astonishing. —Eloise Kinney

Unfaithful Music & DisappearingInk.

By Elvis Costello.

Oct. 2015. 688p. illus. Penguin/Blue Rider, $30

(9780399167256). 782.421.

This is a big book, literally, by one of thebest rockers in the business. Given the sin-gular, and eclectic, nature of his career, itis no surprise that ElvisCostello’s anecdotal autobi-ography is an idiosyncraticjourney through his musicand the people and placesthat have inspired him.Born Declan Patrick Mac-Manus, he fondly recallshis father’s show-businesscareer in England, the first time he heard theBeatles’ “Please Please Me” (“thrilling andconfusing”), his early gigs, his wide-eyed firsttime in America, his controversial debut onSaturday Night Live, his collaboration withPaul McCartney, and his marriage to jazzsinger–pianist Diana Krall. Costello offersmany small delights and revelations. For ex-ample, we learn that Levi Stubbs of the FourTops is one of his heroes and that the RymanAuditorium in Nashville is his “favorite stagein the world.” We learn, too, about the inspi-ration for many of his songs, from “Alison”to “Pump It Up” to “Watching the Detec-tives.” Despite the name-dropping (Dylan,Springsteen, Bowie, Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis),Costello comes across as the perennial out-sider, as someone who is surprised that he hasbeen invited to the party. A must for Costellofans everywhere. —June Sawyers

Van Halen Rising: How a SouthernCalifornia Backyard Party Band SavedHeavy Metal.

By Greg Renoff.

Oct. 2015. 392p. ECW, $18.95 (9781770412637). 782.4.

In the late 1970s, heavy-metal rock was
in serious decline. Album sales were flatlin-ing; other genres, such as punk rock and
disco, were gaining popularity. Van Halen,
who would reenergize heavy metal and help
to usher in a new era of popularity for the
genre, had played around L.A. for years
under various names (including the Trojan
Rubber Company) but couldn’t get a record
deal—until they hooked up with producer
Ted Templeman and lead singer David Lee
Roth. The author draws on interviews with
many key players to tell the band’s story,
and he does a fine job of showing what it
must have been like for the members of Van
Halen when, suddenly, after years of relative
obscurity, they found international success
with the release of their very first album. The
lack of interviews with Eddie Van Halen and
David Lee Roth is notable but not a serious
drawback; many good music biographies
have been written about stars who did not
actively participate in the writing. And this is
a very good one indeed. —David Pitt

We Were Brothers.

By Barry Moser.

Oct. 2015. 204p. illus. Algonquin, $24.95
(9781616204136). 741.609.

National Book Award winner Moser’s
finely detailed, emotionally nuanced illustrations have graced the pages of many classics
as well as his own books, including One
Hundred Portraits (2010). He now adds
precise and cutting prose to his creative
repertoire in this valiantly forthright, superbly illustrated family memoir. In both
riveting language and breathtaking drawings, at once acutely realistic and powerfully
expressive, Moser confronts and explicates
painful memories and regrets as he tells with
profound retrospective insight the story of
his Jim Crow-era, Chattanooga, Tennessee,
boyhood. He was the younger of two brothers of radically opposed temperaments who
clashed incessantly and violently; two white